Thanks for all the kind words on Friday’s announcement! It’s weird and wonderful and exciting and terrifying, and nearly four months in it’s only just starting to feel real.

Because I’m sure you’re curious and because I’m excited to talk about it and because these are legit questions people have asked since we started spreading the good news, here’s the scoop on pregnancy #3.

Really? You’re pregnant??

Yes. Yes I am. You figured it out. Congrats and gold star for you!

When are you due?

Halloween. Not around then; October 31 is my actual due date. Of course after Margot, I’m planning on dressing up and taking the girls trick-or-treating and having a baby a week or so later. (TL,DR: Margot was 10 days late. Babies: so unpredictable.)

Is it a boy or a girl?

We will find out in a month or two. In theory I like the idea of waiting until the delivery, but I kind of figure if we can find out ahead of time, why not?

How do the girls feel about it?

Mila is over the moon. She asks about the baby all the time and tells me, “I will feed the baby and give it little toys to play with and it will be so so cute.” I don’t think Margot quite gets it yet, but she will. And she LOVES babies, so I’m not worried. They’ll be the best big sisters, I just know it.

How are you feeling?

Much better these days, thanks. That first trimester was icky. Mild, I know, compared to many women’s experience, but not exactly fun. I was soooooo tired, not sleeping well, getting up like five times in the night to use the bathroom, and if I wasn’t actively putting food in my mouth, I felt nauseated. I ate a lot of rice chex and pretzels and popcorn for a while, and the girls watched way more TV than they ever have in their short lives. We survived. Now I’m in my second trimester and it’s comparatively glorious.

Was this planned?

That is, frankly, none of your business…but yes, it was. We’ve known since Margot was born that there was at least one more child waiting to join our family. It was only a matter of timing.

Don’t you have fertility problems or something?

Yes.I have PCOS. I know women who have far more symptoms and greater difficulty staying healthy than I do, so I’m very grateful that my version is fairly mild.That said, I ovulate very infrequently, and I take birth control pretty religiously in order to keep my cysts and hormones in check.

Mila was a miracle baby, but Margot was the result of taking fertility drugs. We used the same medication–Femara–this time. My body does not respond well to Clomid, which is often the first choice for fertility issues, but Femara does the trick.

Are you still taking medication for depression/anxiety?

Yes. For now.

Won’t that hurt the baby?

I had similar concerns and discussed them with my doctor months ago, before I was ready to go off birth control. He gave me a new prescription which is safe during most of pregnancy and while breastfeeding. I made the switch last November. We were very worried about my mental stability–enough so that we would have waited to have more children until we could figure out a solution to help me be healthy and sane and pregnant–but this option has worked really well for me.

My midwife has mentioned that I will have to be weaned off of it before my third trimester, though. We will probably discuss that further at my next appointment. For now, the crazy brain is in check. All is well.

So. I think that about covers it. If you have any other questions–about being pregnant with two crazy littles running around, about being pregnant and also having mental health issues, about PCOS, about my current cravings (yesterday it was Iceberg fries with fry sauce), or about anything else–I’m an open book. Leave a comment, send me an email…I’d love to talk!

Thanks again for being excited for us! We’re so looking forward to having a new addition to our family and all the extra chaos and joy that comes with it!

You may also enjoy:

It all started when I peed my pants in the picture frame department at Michael’s.

Okay, that’s not technically
true, but it’s relevant, and also, who does that? Me, evidently. Mila
was in the shopping cart, my mom was walking ahead of us, and then, with
no warning whatsoever, I found myself more than a little bit soggy.

“Mom,
I think I just wet my pants,” I said, startled, and sort of lifted up
my leg for her to confirm. She started cracking up because, again, who
does that? Me, that’s who. In my defense, I was hugely pregnant. I
couldn’t see my own crotch if I tried. How was I supposed to be able to
know if I was visibly wet or not?

At any rate, I was. Visibly wet, I mean. So we left. I don’t know about you, but even at 40 weeks pregnant, I was still trying to maintain a sense of dignity. You gotta draw the line somewhere. For me, that line was shopping in urine-soaked pants.

This wasn’t the first time I’d had an issue with–ahem–incontinence. For about a week prior to this incident, I’d been…leaking. (Seriously, this is so gross. You can stop reading now. I would not blame you in the least.) I’d stand up or move just so and feel a tiny gush of liquid. It was awkward. And disconcerting. And embarrassing.

At my 40-week midwife appointment, I asked if she’d check and see what was going on. Because while I was willing to admit that I’d lost all control of my bladder and it was squirting pee with reckless abandon, I wanted to be absolutely sure that my water hadn’t broken.

She did a quick swab test and said with full confidence that it was not amniotic fluid. So yay. I really was wetting my pants.

Except here’s the thing: I could still tell when I needed to use the bathroom. I still felt that urge and was able to hold it in until I made it to the toilet. So it’s not like I was fully incontinent. Only partially. Occasionally. Quite sporadically. I was confused. And–more often than not–a little bit damp.

So after the Michael’s incident and until Margot was born, I wore maxi pads, just in case.

I later found out from the triage nurse at the hospital that sometimes the test to see if fluid is amniotic or not isn’t 100% accurate. She said it’s very possible (and I think very likely) that I had a very high, very small leak, and every now and then I’d be in just the right position for some of it to gush out. Which means that my water “broke” about a week and a half before Margot was born. Which in turn explains why my fluid levels were low at 41 weeks. Which is the reason we scheduled an induction at all.

At any rate, I feel vindicated. Don’t start shopping for Depends for me just yet. Me and my bladder, we got this.

*

Birth story tomorrow. Woo! I’d apologize for not posting it sooner, but since it took A YEAR for me to post about birthing Amelia, I don’t feel too bad for making you wait not quite a month this time.